Better bus services for ferries

Archimedes: July 2011

Holiday visitors to Greece and the Greek Islands are to get extra bus services between Athens' airport and the ferry port at Piraeus. The Athens Urban Transport Organisation (OASA) has announced changes to bus routes serving Athens' Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, the ferry port of Piraeus and the central Athens intercity bus terminals.

Buses between the airport and ferries will run 24-hours-a-day from August 1.

And the routes of buses X95, X93 and X96 will be extended to cover 3am to 5.30am between Piraeus port and Athens' bus stations.

This means the X95 bus that normally runs between Syntagma Square and the airport will also provide a night link between Syntagma Square and Piraeus.

The X93 bus between Kifissos intercity bus terminal and Athens Airport will now also link both destinations with the seaport of Piraeus.

The X96 bus (Piraeus-Athens Airport Express) will also run 24-hours via Posidonos Avenue and Varis Avenue to and from the seaport of Piraeus and Athens Airport.The changes will mean better night service for holidaymakers flying into Athens and catching Greek Island ferries from the port at Piraeus

The bus timetable extensions come as protesting Greek taxi drivers vow to press on with strike action despite calls from by Prime Minister George Papandreou to end disruption at ports and airports.

Taxi cab owners claim new regulations will trigger a glut of cabbies and sink the value of their operating licenses, which used to exchange hands for six-figure sums.

But the government warns that freeing up 'closed shop' trades is a condition of huge loans to help the country climb out of debt. The Prime Minister has agreed to talks with taxi cab operators but says reforms must be put in place.

Tour operators and the government have said the taxi cab protests, which have blocked roads from major ports and airports, have damaged the country's reputation abroad at the height of the holiday season.